The Truth of the Trial
by AddiCullen
Summary: Epilogue of Sweeney Todd. Toby follows Johanna and Anthony, they take him in knowing nothing of his past. Not knowing that he may be the dangerous answer to Johanna's mysterious past.
1. Johanna's Halo

**THE TRUTH OF THE TRIAL**

**Chapter 1. Johanna's Halo  
**

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Toby rushed up the stairs, slipping twice on the stone steps, the blood drawn from the cuts on his hands mixed with the blood that still dripped from the razor that Toby barely knew was in his hand. He stopped once out in the yard of the pie shop. He put his hands on his knees and breathed deeply. With shaking hands, he folded the razor and placed it in his jacket pocket. Without lifting his head he sprang forward, about to run, but ran into someone instead.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Toby said. He helped the other person up.

"I'm fine." Said the person, dusting of their breeches. Toby froze in confusion. That was a girl's voice. A girl dressed in a boy's breeches and jacket? How odd. The hat she had been wearing had been knocked slightly askew, setting free a few strands of long, golden hair. Toby stared, she was very beautiful. She looked at him concernedly. "Are you okay?" She asked him oddly. Toby realized he was still shaking, his face was sweaty and clammy and his breath was ragged. The girl's eyes narrowed in worry as she observed him, eyes lingering on his panicked expression and his bloody hands.

"Johanna!" Someone called. Toby flinched. Johanna? Did he know this beautiful girl? He surveyed her again. No, he'd remember if he had. Then why did her name sound so familiar? Maybe he had heard it among the horrifying conversation he overheard while hiding in the sewer…

A young man jogged up to them, touching Johanna's arm to get her attention. She nodded in acknowledgement, still watching Toby. "Johanna, come on, I've got the wagon and it's time to go."

"Wait." Johanna said softy, waving him off. She took a step closer to Toby, "What's wrong?" She asked him seriously. Toby bit a trembling lip, eyes darting around frantically for no particular reason.

"I…I…" He stammered, he lurched forward the smallest amount. Johanna jumped back.

"Anthony!" She said, putting a hand on the young man's shoulder, "Anthony what's wrong with him?" Anthony looked at Toby, eyes coming to rest on his bloody hands. Hanging his head, Toby pointed to the cellar.

"Stay here." Anthony ordered Johanna, striding off to the cellar steps.

"I'm coming with you." She said stubbornly, moving to follow him.

"No miss!" Toby said loudly, grabbing her hand and holding her back, "Stay here." He did want this lovely girl to see….he shuddered. Seeing the shudder, Johanna stopped anxiously, she knelt beside Toby. He let go of her hand. Johanna held her thin hand up, looking at it. Her pale hand was streaked with blood! Self-consciously, Toby wiped his hands on his pants. Anthony returned at a run.

"Who?" He demanded of Toby.

"Who what?" Johanna interrupted. Anthony moved to her side slowly, draping his arm around her thin shoulders he leaned close and whispered something in her ear. Her fair face turned bone white. Her eyes became glassy as she looked at her bloody hand.

"Who killed those people?" Anthony repeated. Toby's ragged breathing became harsher.

"What people?" He choked.

"I saw Judge Turpin and the Beadle, the beggar woman…" Anthony started. Toby interrupted him before he could ask who killed Mr. Todd. He knew Anthony and Mr. Todd were chums.

"The demon." Toby whispered frantically, "the madman, the killer, the monster." Toby began hyperventilating.

"You've scared him." Johanna scolded.

"It wasn't me." Anthony said darkly, ignoring the odd look Johanna gave him. Toby's breath did not slow, he wrapped his arms around his chest, a single tear leaking from his eyes and traveling down his ruddy cheek. Johanna kneeled beside him, stroking his shoulders soothingly.

"It must have been horrible." Johanna whispered. Anthony was staring moodily at the ground.

"I'll say." He muttered, "Whatever happened they killed Mr. Todd. He was the only one helping us." Toby choked on his contradiction, making the startled reply unintelligible. "Steady there." Anthony advised. "Johanna, we should leave." With a nod, she stood and followed him obediently to the waiting wagon.

Toby stared after them. They wouldn't just leave him there, would they? After all of that they would just abandon him? He already knew he had no place to go, especially if he never wanted to set foot in Fleet Street again, which he didn't. The one tear he had shed did not yet dry, it was caught halfway down his cheek, it bothered him but he didn't feel like lifting his arm to brush it away. Didn't feel like running or hiding or moving. He felt all he could do was watch this young couple as they went to the wagon left on the edge of the street. As soon as they got there Johanna stopped and whispered something in Anthony's ear. He whispered something back with a straight face. Johanna turn to Toby with a warm smile, she held out her hand.

"Are you coming?" She asked, as though he had been planning to join them all along. Without hesitation Toby ran to the wagon, giving both Anthony and Johanna a quick hug, then climbed in back.


	2. Not While I'm Around

Johanna shivered as the last traces of sun disappeared over the horizon. Leaning closer, Toby noted that her lips were tinged blue and her nose and cheeks were pink from the cold air. Subtly, he moved closer to her. In his mind, this girl was a hero, his hero. An angel, his angel. Even though he was freezing himself, he couldn't bear to see her cold.

Noticing his movement, Johanna smiled and opened her arms invitingly, giving him the excuse to now scoot to her side and lean his head on her dainty shoulder. Johanna wrapped her blanketed arms around Toby's shoulders and rested her cheek against the top of his head.

"Anthony, where are we going?" Johanna asked amiably. Anthony twisted in his seat up front, keeping hold of the reigns.

"My brother's." He replied, looking bitterly at Johanna's arms around Toby.

"I didn't know you had a brother." Johanna said mildly.

"Yeah, well. We haven't exactly had so much time for conversation yet, have we?" Anthony said stiffly. Toby wanted to tell him to watch his mouth while speaking to a lady, but then he saw Johanna's face. It was understanding and compassionate. She didn't look at all offended by Anthony's snappy mood, rather identified and accepting.

"That's right." She said calmly with (to Toby's amazement) a small smile, "We shall have to make more time to talk. I want to know all about you." Johanna spoke slowly, not as if he were dull but she gave the words more time to settle in the air around them. Anthony smiled slightly, eyes sparkling.

Toby was confused. Here was a young couple so obviously in love and yet they knew nothing of each other? How could their eyes stray to one another's with so much affection and yet they had hardly spoken? How long had they known each other anyway? How did they meet? Was this really what love was like? From what he had seen….

He winced. Thinking about it was painful. Fine, he had never seen love before. And he was young still. Toby let the subjects drop from his thoughts, hoping that he would make sense of it someday when he was older.

Toby was so tired, though he felt as though he dare not sleep. He'd rather keep his thought in control, his dreams had tendencies to bring up things that he didn't want to think about. However, he felt safe while Johanna was holding him. And quickly fell asleep.

"Toby. We're here." Johanna said quietly, shaking him awake on the fourth night of travel. It was very dark. They were at the edge of a small village by the sea. He saw ships and docks. They were at a small cottage at which three people were standing out side of.

"Anthony!" Someone called. Two men walked forward. One man, looking very similar to Anthony, stepped up to the wagon, taking the horse's reigns. The other man was tall and hulking, he walked off down the road and into the night. Toby watched that retreating shadow for a few moments before turning to look at the third person. A plain young woman with thick red hair tied back in a loose bun.

Johanna helped him out of the wagon.

"Archer!" Anthony called, giving the man a quick embrace, before turning to Johanna and Toby. "This is my brother, Archer." He told them. "Archer. This is my fiance Johanna and our friend Toby." Archer bowed.

"Welcome!" He said merrily and loudly. Toby jumped. He wasn't used to people using such loud voices in greeting. Archer chuckled. "Steady there son." He said comfortingly. The woman moved from the doorway to stand at Archer's elbow. "This is my girl, Lila." He said. "Lila, this is Anthony, Johanna and Toby." Lila's smile was polite but distant as she surveyed the newcomers.

"Who was that we saw leaving?" Anthony asked as they all journeyed inside.

"Oh. That was just Mickey." Lila said with a dismissive wave of the hand, "He comes to complain to us whenever he gets too drunk to remember where he lives. He never forgets about us though." She giggled. Toby jumped again. Laughing, giggling. It was extremely…odd…and scary that he wasn't used to such things.

Archer and Lila had rooms prepared. Johanna maternally put Toby straight to bed, giving him a kiss on the forehead before dousing his light. They all went out in the sitting room to talk.

For several weeks, life was good for Toby. Archer got Anthony a job with the local fishermen, taking into account that he was most at home on a boat of some sort. Lila spent her time teaching Johanna sewing tricks and baking recipes. She also helped take care of Toby. They got along well. Lila was strict but very and Toby was always obedient. Lila would also take Johanna and Toby on trips in town. Teaching Johanna how to haggle while getting household supplied. On lucky days Lila would haggle an extra lemon drop and slyly hand it to Toby with a wink.

The man called Mickey was also around. He came around every couple of days to sit at the dining room table and sulk. Archer would sit with him if he had something to say, most of the time he didn't. Archer told Toby that a good friend was sympathetic. When Toby asked if Mickey was sympathetic Archer just laughed heartily.

"Oh he used to be." He said, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye, "But now I feel like I owe him that. It's always the decent thing to do." The decent thing to do. Toby sighed, another thing he had to adjust to.

One day Anthony asked Archer to help him on a fishing trip. That same day Lila informed them that one of her friends was sick and she was to go look after the children while her husband was away.

"Just us today, huh Toby?" Johanna said with a laugh.

"Seems so miss. Do you need me to help with anything?" Toby asked.

"No, no. I'll just be working on this recipe Lila gave me. Why don't you go make your bed and clean up in your room?" Johanna suggested. Toby did as he was told.

Nearly half an hour later Toby heard the door open. Johanna called out a greeting and go a deep response. Toby recognized it as Mickey and continued with his chores. A few minutes later he heard some crashing from the kitchen. Were those pots and pans falling? Was that Johanna whimpering? Toby listened harder, creeping toward the Kitchen door. Definitely a scuffle. It sounded like Johanna was trying to scream, but it was muffled. Opening the door Toby saw them.

Mickey had her pressed up against the counter, he body leaning into her, his face bent close to hers. She was struggling, her arms scrabbled around behind her, looking for something that could help, but she was no match for him.

Filled with rage, Toby ran to the other room and grabbed the first sharp object he found: The Fire poker. He charged into the kitchen, wielding it in front of him like a sword. Neither of the two saw Toby coming until he jammed the sharp end of the hot poker into Mickey's beer gut. Howling with pain, he released Johanna, who slumped over the counter, and turned to Toby. Although Mickey must have been three or four feet taller than him, Toby stood there defiantly, watching him coldly. As Mickey charged Toby swung the poker up over his shoulder, aiming, then swung, opening a large gash at the top of Mickey's forehead. The big man stumbled. Toby got him again in the gut. Finally, Mickey made a run for it, and Toby followed him all the way out, brandishing his new weapon.

As soon as Mickey was out of sight Toby dropped the poker and dashed back to Johanna who was leaning limply against the counter.

"Miss?" He asked timidly. Her eyelids fluttered.

"Oh Toby." She pulled him close to her, sinking to the ground with Toby clutched in her arms. Her eyes were large and glassy, her cheeks flushed. "Toby, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Miss." He assured her, "Are you."

"Oh Toby." She sighed, "Thank you. Thank you so much for saving me."

"My pleasure. It was a horrible sight. And nothing's gonna harm you miss, not while I'm around." He said the words without realizing it. He snapped his eyes shut. The last time he said that…the one person he cared about dying in flames. No. He vowed. Johanna would be different. Nothing would happen to her. Not while Toby was around.


	3. Damsel

Lila was the first one home. Johanna had not yet pulled herself together. She sat in the middle of the kitchen, fallen pots, pans and broken dishes surrounded her pale figure. Her hair was frizzy in a mess around her still terrified face. Toby was kneeling in front of her, offering bread and water that Johanna continued to refuse. As soon as Lila entered the house she stopped and stared.

"What happened?" She demanded, rushing to Johanna's side.

"He…he..came in and…he…" Johanna stuttered, pointing at the door.

"Who?" Lila asked.

"Mickey." Toby replied darkly. Lila's hand's flew to her mouth and her eyes widened.

"Mickey? Oh Johanna! I'm so sorry! I should have warned you that…"

"He's done this before?" Johanna asked weakly.

"Well, not a lot, mind you. But he does get rather….odd when he's drunk." Lila explained, "I'm afraid this isn't the first time he's pulled it." Her eyes became dull.

"Well." Johanna cleared her throat, "Luckily, Toby was here to save me?"

"Toby?" Lila repeated blankly, looking at the boy.

"He grabbed the fire poker." Johanna explained.

"Ah." Lila looked at Toby and smiled kindly. She got on her knees and gave the boy a hug, he winced at first with surprise. "It's such a good thing you're here Toby." She told him softly. Lila pulled away and suddenly laughed. "A couple of gals like us could so some protection, ay Johanna?" She winked at the younger woman, who giggled shakily.

"We'd better clean this up." Johanna said, getting weakly to her knees.

"Right." Lila agreed, also standing, "And when the boys get home we'll tell them-"

"No!" Johanna all but shrieked. Toby and Lila both froze. Johanna continued in a softer tone, "No please, _please_ don't tell Anthony about this!"

"Why not?" Lila demanded.

"He already worries about me so much. You know how…odd…our relationship is. It's humiliating enough for me that he had to save me like a damsel but now this?"

"Miss?" Toby questioned.

"Save you?" Lila asked at the same time.

"From the judge." Johanna wailed, "He saved me but he doesn't need to anymore." The judge? Toby thought. Judge Turpin? Why was Johanna with judge Turpin…? He repressed whatever it was that his mind was trying to remember. If it was before he came here he didn't want to remember. None of it seemed true anymore.

"Then why can't he save you?" Lila continued, Toby pulled his mind back to the present.

"I'm not helpless. And I have Toby." Johanna put her arms around his shoulders. "I don't want him to worry. My problems tend to consume him."

"If you say so." Lila shrugged. The three of them began to tidy up the room.

That night Toby was unusually quiet at dinner.

"Why aren't you eating, boy?" Archer asked good-naturedly. Toby just shrugged, pushing his food around his plate with his fork. Lila and Johanna exchanged knowing glances.

When the girls cleared off the table Anthony headed off to bed and Archer retreated to his study. After Johanna sent Toby to bed he sat on his bed for nearly an hour, barely blinking, too lost in thought to let his mind and body rest. Finally he stood and quietly tiptoed out of the room. He sneaked down the hall (Johanna and Lila were sewing in the living room, talking in low voices to keep from waking him) and to the door of Archer's study. Toby looked at the door for a moment. He had never been in Archer's study before, although no one had told him this outright he got the sense that it was forbidden. He put his small hand on the handle and pushed it open. The room was quite large (larger than Toby's bedroom, anyway) and the walls her covered by large disorganized bookshelves. Books and random papers stuck out of the shelves at all angles and the floor was littered with old parchment and wooden crates. A large clock hung over Archer's desk, it's brass pendulum clicking at each second passed. Hearing the door open, Archer turned and smiled.

"Why, Toby. What are you doing put of bed at this hour?" He asked.

"I couldn't sleep." Toby replied distantly.

"Well come in my boy and close the door. Quietly, or Johanna will have my head for letting you stay up." Archer chuckled. Toby obeyed as Archer moved some things around until he stacked two closed wooden crates on top of each other and motioned for the boy to sit. Toby did so, leaping onto the boxes, when he sat his feet hung over a foot above the ground. For nearly half an hour Toby watched silently as Archer scribbled away on shipping orders, scratching his head sporadically.

"Sir?" Toby asked eventually.

"Yes? Why don't you call me Archer?" The man demanded. Toby shrugged, making Archer chuckle.

"Sir." Toby continued, "When I asked you if Mickey was sympathetic you said he used to be. You said you owed him that." He paused, "I was wondering why you said that."

"That's a mighty odd question." Archer speculated, when Toby continued to gaze at him expectantly he sighed, putting down his quill, "It's a might sad story."

"I'm used to sad stories." Toby assured him. Archer frowned.

"When I was about your age." He said, "Mickey and his brother saved my life."


	4. Not Quite Funny

"Your life?" Toby repeated, "What happened?"

"Mickey and I go way back. We grew up together." Archer explained, "Best of friends. Sometimes he was a better brother to me than Anthony was, not that he did anything wrong." Archer added hastily, "I wasn't always the best brother either. Mickey had an older brother, Trick. Trick wasn't his real name, mind you, but even his parents and teachers called him that. No one in town knew his real name. Trick was a real prankster, sometimes his jokes were brilliantly funny, other times they…weren't. For example; jumping out of the tall weeds when people were walking by was hilarious. The snowballs with rocks in the center, however, were not." Toby winced. "Exactly. This was one of his pranks that wasn't very funny. Mickey and I were going ice skating on the pond. Trick was, at that moment, trying to get someone he didn't like very much down to the pond. He'd tossed salt over a small portion of the ice near the shore. It was so shallow over there that he'd assumed there wouldn't be any trouble, and there wouldn't have been.

"He didn't know that we were going there. Mickey challenged me to a race, I was winning. Normally we didn't go that shallow, ice isn't normally thick there, but Mickey and Trick always insisted on no shortcuts, at that point in life it was simply habit to skate the perimeter. Trick was just coming over the hill with the other boy, when he called out it was too late. I fell through. The other boy would have just stood in water that shallow, but I was several years younger and a runt at that. I drifted as soon as I got under, I couldn't find my way back up again. Mickey had immediately taken off his skates and started hopping on the ice near me, intentionally falling though, but he stayed on his feet. He broke through the ice trying to find me. He ran straight into me and pulled me up. Trick had gone for help and the other boy had run off. Mickey half dragged me up the hill and knocked on the nearest door for somewhere warm to set me done. Trick and his mother didn't show up for another ten minutes, and in the cold and wet it could have been the death of me."

"So you owe him that forever?" Toby asked.

"Well doesn't that make sense? I'd owe him my life, so the rest of my life is a debt, you see? Mickey doesn't ask for much, he's a decent fellow." Archer said.

"Hmm…" Toby disagreed quietly.

"What was that for?" Archer asked.

"Nothing." Toby slid off his seat, "I think I'll be going back to bed now."

"Probably wise before Lila or Johanna find you, goodnight Toby." Archer watched Toby leave, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Toby made it a habit to go sit with Archer in his study after he was sent to bed. Sometimes they talked, Archer telling more stories about his childhood, and Anthony's. He rarely asked Toby about his life, but when he did he rarely received an answer, and any answers he did get were not very accommodating.

Other times they just sat in silence, Toby watching in fascination and Archer worked, every now and then asking a question concerning his papers. When Toby revealed that he couldn't read or write Archer took it upon himself to teach him. Toby found it difficult to learn the letters. Why couldn't one letter just make one sound all the time? But Archer was very patient with him. The day Toby learned to write his own name was a very happy day indeed. Archer brought him a few lemon drops as a reward the next day.

Johanna, Anthony, and Lila never discovered the secret study hall, and Toby wanted to impress them someday with his writing.

It was two weeks before Mickey showed up again and it seemed that he was too drunk at the time to remember the incident, and the girls began to treat him the same. Archer and Anthony never heard about it.

About a month later there was a knock on the door.

"Toby, go finish setting the table, I'll go see who it is." Johanna ordered. Toby obeyed.

"Toby!" Johanna called out suddenly, sounding rather alarmed. Toby ran into the other room and his mouth dropped open.

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	5. Accusations

Two policemen stood in the doorway. Johanna stood next to them timidly, watching Toby approach with curious, frightened eyes.

"These men say they need to speak with you." She said. Toby froze.

"What for?" He demanded. The policemen exchanged glances.

"May we come in?" One of them asked Johanna, she blinked.

"Oh, oh yes. Forgive me for not inviting you I was…Come in please, I'll make some tea." She said, leading them to the dining room.

"Thank you ma'am." Said the other policeman. They removed their caps and sat at the table, motioning for Toby to sit across from them. Slow with fear, he did.

The policemen sat for several minutes without saying anything, sipping their tea and observing Toby over the brims of their teacups.

"So lad," One of them said finally, setting down his cup. Johanna rushed out of the room to brew more tea. The man folded his hands on the table in front of him.

"Yes?" Toby asked when he didn't continue, now the other man set down his cup.

"We were told a few things about you previous employers, we wanted to hear it from you." He said, "Where were you staying before coming here?" Toby swallowed and his eyes darted around the room as a reflex, the policemen narrowed their eyes.

"At…at…Miss Lovette's pie shop, before that with Adolfo Pirelli and before that the workhouse." He stuttered. The men exchanged odd glances.

"How long did you work at the pie shop?" One of them asked.

"I don't know, I didn't count, not very long."

"And why did you leave?"

Toby refused to answer, the policemen saw his eyes widen in horror and fear. "There was an…incident." He said at last.

"Oh," One of them asked, leaning forward and narrowing his eyes to observe the small boy, "And what kind of incident would that be?"

"The disastrous kind." He whispered. Now one of the men looked surprised.

"So, you were aware, then?" He asked. Toby froze.

"Aware of what?" He asked, thinking of the secrets he had discovered in the cellar.

"Aware of the mysterious going-ons under the pie shop that night." One said. Once again Toby did not answer.

Johanna re-entered, carrying a pot of tea in her hands, she looked from Toby, to the men, back again nervously. The men's faces were a fair amount grimmer than when she had left them.

"Then I suppose you are aware of the multiple murders committed that night? That a few days later the police found four bodies in cellar, and _you_, boy, gone without a trace?" One accused, Johanna paled, eyes locked on Toby's face. Slowly, he nodded.

"I'm aware." He said quietly.

"Among the bodies was the barber who lived above the pie shop and we wonder…who would have killed him?"

Toby's eyes became hard, "I did." He said firmly. If Johanna had been pale before she was now ghost white, eyes confused and face horrified as she regarded Toby. "I killed him." The men stood in a flash, each with a hand on one of Toby's scrawny shoulders.

"You are under arrest for the murders of Sweeney Todd, Lucy Barker, Beadle Baron, and the honorable Judge Turpin."

_CRASH!_

The teapot fell from Johanna's now limp hands, her mouth dropped open. For a moment Toby wanted to go to her and reassure her, of what he didn't know. He didn't want to see her in so much pain.

"You killed him?" She whispered through white lips, "You killed the judge?"

"No!" Toby cried.

"You admitted…"

"I killed the demon. You don't understand! He killed her miss! He killed them all and gave her to the flames! Someone had to stop him!" He shouted as the men dragged him across the room and out of the house. "You have to believe me, miss! I had to stop him!"

Before the door closed Toby twisted around to see Johanna sink to her knees.

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	6. Believe in Me

Lila looked at Toby through the bars of his holding cell back in London. Her face was completely composed and expressionless as she surveyed the small boy curled up in the corner. He looked back at her miserably.

"You do believe me, don't you?" Toby asked finally, "Someone must believe me." Lila sighed and sank to her knees on the other side of the bars. She looked him levelly in the eyes.

"Believe _what_, Toby?" She asked, "What is there to believe?"

"I didn't kill the judge." Toby hissed desperately. "Johanna hates me for it, but I didn't kill him."

"Are you sure that's why she's upset?" Lila asked, biting her lip.

"What else could it be?" Toby asked. Lila looked him over again; his bloodshot eyes were red-rimmed and remorseful. His manner was frantic and lips were tight. He'd always been such a good little boy to her. Toby had a good soul, she knew he wouldn't do anything rash, and would definitely not do something like this without reason. She had noticed his fierce way of protection the day he fought off Mickey with the fire poker, she thought of it often since then. A boy who would normally not hurt a fly would do anything to protect someone he loved. Looking at him now Lila decided that he _did_ love Johanna and Anthony, if for no other reason than for taking him in when he had no place to go.

"I don't know, Toby." Lila said at last, exhaling loudly, "I just thought she'd find it forgivable."

"Why?" Toby asked in surprise. He thought about it, but couldn't find a reason that Johanna would forgive him for allegedly murdering her guardian.

"It's just that…from the things I've heard he didn't sound like someone that the world would particularly miss. I overheard Anthony telling Archer about it. Judge Turpin kept Johanna locked up tight, he did. Would treat her like a daughter one day, a wife the next and a leper the day after that. Of course, she hardly noticed for a while, couldn't bear thinking of her father in a bad light. But then again, I'm not sure she thought of him as a father. Did you know that? The Judge wasn't even her real father. I'm not sure how she got to his care, and frankly neither is she. But he raised her practically as his own and…Toby? Are you alright?" Lila cut herself off concernedly, for Toby had frozen in place. His brown eyes didn't blink, his small chest didn't rise, didn't fall. "Toby?" Lila called, even though he was scarcely a few yards from her. "Toby! What's wrong?" She demanded. For several minutes she watched him, breath and heart racing, waiting for his mind to return. Finally, his eyelids closed and his chest rose, sucking in a deep breath.

"Johanna wasn't his daughter." Toby repeated dully, eyes still closed. Of course, his mind was putting pieces together he squinted his eyes tighter, trying to bat his memories away before they settled in him. Lila watched him oddly.

"No." She said slowly when it was clear he wasn't going to continue, "He wasn't. She doesn't know who was. But here's an odd thing. With Judge Turpin dead Johanna inherits everything, can you believe it? The others are at his house now, mostly they're trying to figure out who her real parents are, but the papers are proving very hard to find."

"Why would she want to know?" Toby whispered.

"Wouldn't you want a chance to know your family?" Lila asked in surprise.

"My family," Toby growled, "doesn't matter. They've been gone as long as I can remember, they were good for nothing. I can't go looking around for empty tombstones, don't you see? Sometimes it isn't worth it. Sometimes it's better _not to know!_ It's not important where you came from, only who you end up with."

"Well I'd have been nothing without my family." Lila stated softly, "Johanna has the right to know." Toby twitched, the pain of knowledge scorched him throughout his body. He shivered, even though sweat was gathering on his forehead.

"Tell her to stop." He whimpered, "Tell her she shouldn't know…it isn't worth it…I know…"

"You know what?" Lila urged eagerly when he didn't finish his sentence, "You know of Johanna's family?" Toby tried not to answer his head lolled from side to side before a couple of quick nods escaped him, he grasped at his hair, the memories were coming back, and there was nothing he could do to stop them. "Tell me, Toby. Tell me, then." Lila said, leaning away from the cell, sensing his inner turmoil.

"No!" He shouted, balling his hands into fists and clapping them against his ears. "No!" His body shook with sobs and rocked from side to side. Lila stood and stepped away, looking at Toby with concern. This poor boy, she thought to herself, he wasn't a stone cold killer, and he couldn't be faulted. Something was controlling him; something truly horrible was responsible for transforming this innocent boy into the possibly murdering hysteric that cowered before her now.

"I'll come back." She promised him, though she wasn't sure he could hear her. And as she left she added under her breath, "I believe you."

Johanna was curled up on a couch in the study, staring blankly into the dying fire in the hearth. Archer and Anthony roamed the parameter of the room, sometimes pulling books from the shelves and flipping through the pages, sometimes just moving the books to see if something was in between them. Lila walked into the room and looked around, disheartened by the somber mood. Archer and Anthony glanced at her when she closed the door behind her. Johanna didn't move.

"Johanna?" Lila asked softly, walking tentatively to the couch where Johanna was and sat down. Johanna nodded in acknowledgement, her brows furrowing though her eyes continued to refuse movement. "Johanna, I spoke with Toby." Both Archer and Anthony stopped moving about the room and turned to watch Johanna apprehensively. Johanna's head snapped to look at Lila with wide, incredulous eyes.

"What?" She hissed. Lila met her gaze firmly.

"Dear, dear Johanna. You took this boy into your arms while he was covered in blood and tears with a razor in his hand and bodies in the basement. Why? Even you would know better than to invite a murderer into your home."

"I didn't know he was a murderer." Johanna mumbled.

"No, you didn't _think_ he was a murderer. You _knew_ that the little boy was at the very least in the wrong place at the wrong time. And at worst committing the crime that he confessed to; killing the barber." Lila said.

"Why?" Johanna whispered, more to herself than to Lila, "Why would he kill the barber and not the Judge? Not the Beadle? Why admit to one if not the others?"

"Perhaps one was his only crime."

"Who killed them? If not Toby than who was responsible?" Johanna demanded.

"Why are you holding a grudge?" Lila asked curiously, Johanna looked away. "You didn't love the Judge as a father or anything else. You didn't even _like_ the man."

"I _hated_ him." Johanna said through numb lips.

"Why the remorse? Whoever killed the Judge saved you just as much as Anthony did. And just think about it for a moment, Johanna." Johanna looked up in confusion; Lila put her hands on either side of the younger woman's face. "It's _Toby_. Precious, loving, smart, irreplaceable,_ your_ Toby." A tear slipped down Johanna's white face.

"I don't know why I care." She answered finally, "It's just…that I can't find my real family… judge was the only family I ever really had."

"Not anymore." Lila said firmly, "And you should speak to Toby."

"Why?" Johanna demanded sharply.

"The boy knows your story. Toby knows who are, if no one else does. Ask _him_ about your parents." Johanna wrenched herself away from Lila and stood, knees shaking.

"_Toby_?" She asked in wonder, "_My_ Toby? He never said…they never said…" She stormed out of the room and raced up the stairs, kicking open the door to her bedroom. She stood and stared at the room at large for a moment, letting the unhappy memories surround and fill her. Angrily, she ripped the covers off the bed. "All those years I cried here." She growled, kicking over her nightstand, "All those years I suffered, never knowing how I was." She ripped a painting off the wall and threw it to the ground, shattering a vase down after it. "And someone who could claim me was so close that _Toby_ knew about it!" She kicked open the window and threw her now-mangled pillows out of it. "And they never claimed me! Toby never told me! No one ever did!" She continued to throw everything that could break around the room. "I just wanted to be loved and be free and this is what it got me!" She shrieked, her eyes settled on the birdcage by her window, she lifted it with shaking hands. The birds inside had long since died, she peered at the lark inside; dead in captivity, as she would have, no thanks to anyone. With a final shriek and fresh burst of tears she threw the cage out the window with all her might. It landed in the middle of the street and, as Johanna watched, was squashed beneath a passing carriage.

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**Sorry this took forever! Between this, youtube and school I'm a little overbooked!**

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	7. The Truth and The Trial

"Tobias. The court of London will now convene do discuss and conclude in the ruling of your guilt in the murders of the Honorable Judge Turpin, the Beadle Baron, Sweeney Todd, Lucy Barker and Nellie Lovette." A grumpy man in a powdered wig and black robe said from his place on the high stand of the London courthouse. The room was filled to bursting with curious people; people both enraged at finding the Judge's murderer and people who didn't really care but loved to keep up appearances. Lila and Archer pushed their way through the crowd to look at the boy. Toby stood with his hands and ankles shackled, his arms hung limply in front of him, his shoulders were squared in defiance but his eyes were sad. Although hard to tell from their angle and distance, Archer and Lila saw his usually gleaming dark eyes were dull, bloodshot, and puffy from tears. His hair and skin was covered with mud and soot, he had been robbed of his shoes, and his clothes had lost any trace of care or sheen. Lila tugged on Archer's arm in distress.

"He looks like a slum rat." She whispered in his ear. Archer frowned. At first Lila was offended, but then she saw the expression was of concern.

"Look at the way he faces his prosecutors." He said, "Head held high and his mind made up. Lord only knew that no man could break that brave little boy." There was a glint of pride in his eyes. Lila wrapped her arms around Archer's waist.

"Of course he's brave. He _is_ our Toby, after all." She said, "And we know our Toby."

"No need to convince me, it's Johanna we need to worry about. Has she told you her decision?" Archer asked.

"No." Lila replied, shaking her head, "But I fear the worst."

"Why? Johanna is a good soul."

"And so is Toby, and if she can't see that... he dies for her confusion." Lila buried her face in his shirt, "And he has already confessed to killing the barber!" Archer stood there, holding her as the judge continued to speak to Toby, even though no one at all was listening. Most of the crowd, like Lila and Archer, were having conversations. And Toby looked back at the judge squarely, bravely. He wasn't listening, he couldn't get his mind to hold to anything, he couldn't even remember a time when his thoughts would complete themselves instead of trailing of in blankness. Suddenly there was a commotion around the judge's bench, everyone's eyes snapped to him and the voices died down. A bailiff ran up to the judge and whispered a few rushed words to him, pressing a sealed letter into his withered hand. The judge broke the seal and opened the letter, his eyes darting back and forth across the lines as he read them. The room held it's breath as the judge's pupils dilated, his forhead wrinkled, his knuckles whitened and his lips tightened unhappily. Finally, the judge stood, everyone was watching him apprehensively.

"Young Tobias, all charges against you have been formally dropped and you have been pardoned by the country of England and the city of London. You will be taken by the guards to the quarter rooms for more information and then you shall be permanently escorted from the premises." the Judge leaned forward, fixing the shocked Toby with a stern stare, "Never let me see your face again boy." He growled. The guards rushed forward and towed Toby from the room before anyone had a chance to react. As soon as the door closed behind them the crowd burst out with noise. Many people cheered, others roared in anger, and others still seemed disappointed at the lack of excitement. Lila and Archer however, were none of those people. They continued to stare at each other in stunned silence for several more minutes before Lila began to jump up and down and clap her hands. Archer smiled at her and she threw her arms around his neck.

"It was Johanna!" She shouted, "Johanna's finally come to her senses!"

Toby had not yet begun to realize his luck before the guards pushed him into a small room; the Quarter Room. Inside the room was plain stone, a table and two chairs. But as soon as Toby looked up he froze and squinted, as though looking into the sun. This was because Johanna was sitting on the other side of the table watching him, lighting up the room. Toby opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't. It had been weeks since he'd seen Johanna, and she had hated him since then. Johanna didn't smile, but she didn't frown either, her face was unreadable as she motioned Toby to sit across from her. Toby sat and Johanna's eyes lingered on his shackles.

"You look horrible." She said quietly, not meeting his eyes. Toby, on the other hand, was taking in every inch of her perfect face. He hadn't seen the likes of her in far too long. But he also remembered why that was and he didn't feel guilty, he somehow wanted _her_ to feel guilty.

"The city can't afford much soap for it's prisoners." He said coldly, raising his chin, "Or hot water...for that matter." Johanna ducked her head for a moment.

"Toby...I told them to drop the charges." She said quietly, "I made them write the pardon."

"Why?" Toby asked sincerely. Johanna seemed to struggle with herself for a moment before answering.

"Because I need to know the answers to some questions I've had my entire life. And you're the only one who knows what the answers are." She said guiltily. Toby felt cold, he had almost thought she had forgiven him. He had almost thought....he had almost thought they could have all been together again.

"What questions?" Toby's whisper came out strained.

"About my family. Lila told me that you know."

"I don't!" Toby snapped, trying to go back to the time only a few minutes ago when his thoughts were incoherent. Now they were all flowing back in vivid detail. His eyes darted around and his breathing sped.

"I have to know Toby. You have to tell me." Johanna said softly.

"I don't!" Toby shouting, making Johanna jump, "Don't you understand? Sometimes it's better _not to know!_ Just because they're your family doesn't mean that they would have loved you! Maybe you wouldn't have loved them! You didn't know them! I did! Why can't you understand that I care! I _do_ care and I _did _care! Please, Johanna." He looked at her pleadingly. Johanna bit her lip, both determined and frightened. On one hand Toby had never called her Johanna before...but on the other hand...

"Toby." She said softly, "Please tell me what you know."

"I know too much." Toby whispered, tears beginning to squeeze out of his eyes. Johanna didn't say anything, she just continued to watch him. Toby sighed and looked down at his shackled hands and began to speak emotionlessly. "You father was once a barber, everyone called him Benjamen Barker. He was married to a woman named Lucy some very long time ago." Johanna leaned forward in interest, hearing her parent's names for the first time in living memory. Toby ignored her, "I don't know much about what happened next. I only have heard things here and there, they were careful not to talk about these things around me but I still heard. The judge....sent Barker away. For his wife and you, Judge Turpin was jealous. But she wouldn't return his affections and poisoned herself, which is how I believe you came into the Judge's care. She didn't die, mind you, but she went mad. But not very long ago Benjamin Barker returned, this time with the name Sweeney Todd."

"Wait..." Johanna said quietly, eyes wide. Sweeney Todd and Lucy Barker, she had heard those names before. Todd was Anthony's friend who helped them escape, the one who found her hiding in the trunk....She shuddered, that was her father; covered in blood and threatening her with a barber's knife. But right now that didn't matter, her Father knew of her and tried to help her. But when had she heard the other name? Then she remembered: The day Toby was arrested, the words had been burned into her mind. "You are under arrest for the murders of Sweeney Todd, Lucy Barker..." Now Johanna's hands flew to her mouth. "You killed them?" She asked quietly. Toby shook his head without looking up.

"I...it is so hard...please just hear me out first." He drew a deep breath, "He came to Mrs. Lovette's pie shop and made his way as a barber. I was working for Adolfo Pirelli at the time. But he confronted Sweeney Todd and....disappeared. I started helping Mrs. Lovette at the shop. She was so wonderful, she was kind and helpful and caring. But I felt there was something wrong with Mr. Todd, she wouldn't hear a word of it, he brainwashed her and confused her. But I found out....I found out who he really was and that he had a daughter, you. I try not to think about it. I also found out that Mr. Todd was insane. They would send people upstairs to the barber shop, kill them and bake them into the meat pies. I wasn't allowed to help make them for the longest time, until I told Mrs. Lovette my suspicions and she locked me in the meat cellar and went to Mr. Todd. That's how I found out, I found body parts down there and then the Beadle's body fell through a trapdoor in the ceiling and fell right in front of me and I couldn't get out so I hid in the sewer. Mrs. Lovette told him that his wife was dead when she wasn't, I don't know much of this happened but he killed her on accident and Mrs. Lovette didn't want him to find out but he did after he killed the judge in revenge. He was mad and crazy and threw Mrs. Lovette into the furnace....after I promised..." Toby drew another large, painful breath, still refusing to look up and see Johanna's reaction, "So I killed him. I admit, and I'm so sorry that I killed your father but the world is better off without him. He killed so many people. And I promised her nothing would ever harm her and I let her down. He deserved it and I had to." He stopped talking while Johanna absorbed.

So she had met her father, apparently after he killed her hated guardian. And...her mother? Johanna nearly choked, she had hid in the trunk because a woman was coming into the shop....the beggar...her mother. Who was accidentally killed by her lunatic father? In a way it made sense. He helped them, and there was blood everywhere when he pulled her out of the trunk and it wasn't there before. Maybe it would have been better to not have known....

Johanna looked up at Toby and felt pained. The poor boy's eyes were full of despair, he was in pain and she was making it worse. He'd been arrested for avenging the one he so obviously loved. He'd seen so much death, suffered so much loss and so many consequences. A while ago she thought he killed her guardian, now he had killed her father and she couldn't be at him. He had passion born through pain. Her heart went out to him, and she softened. Maybe Lila was right...maybe she didn't need her 'real' family. She just needed people who loved her as much as Toby did. And Johanna couldn't even think about living without Toby.

Slowly, Johanna stood. She went around the table, crossed the room to Toby, to him into her arms and held him.

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**I'm so crazy sorry that this took 5 months! I've stretched myself too thin for someone without an attention span. **

**I tried to make this chapter extra good to make up for it.  
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**Next is the FINAL CHAPTER! And I PROMISE it will be up in April!**

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	8. By The Sea

"No peaking." Johanna chastised.

"I'm not, miss." Toby assured her. They had returned to the country a couple of weeks ago. After getting pardoned Johanna apologized and apologized, and Toby apologized and apologized back until Archer had to intervene and forgive them both for each other. After hearing the whole story and dragging a few more details from Toby, Johanna was disgusted with herself. Here she was, hoping for a family that loved her, never knowing that they were there the whole time and never gave her a second thought. So she did not think of them in return. They had all got back to work quickly. Johanna packed a few of her belongings that she wanted to keep and sold the rest, along with the Judge's possessions and the house. The Miss Lovette's Pie Shop was scrubbed down and auctioned off to a wealthy businessman, who needed another branch of offices. Anthony, Archer, Lila, Johanna and Toby all packed up and headed back to the sea. They settled with only some difficulty back into their old habits, the incident in London was not forgotten, but neither was it often thought about. They all experienced what Toby had experienced the first time he arrived in that seaside town; a bliss that made the past and the rest of the world seem insignificant, hardly even real. However, Toby became anxious when Johanna and Lila started taking more and more trips into town without him. Until the day that Johanna beckoned him to his side and left the house, before the door closed behind them Toby caught a wink that Lila directed at him. Now Toby had been walked around town, Johanna telling him repeatedly to close his eyes. Eventually she placed her hands over them to be sure he wouldn't peak.

"Almost there Toby, don't you love surprises?" Johanna asked.

"No." Toby replied bluntly, making Johanna laugh.

"Here we are." Johanna said at last, lifting her hands. Toby blinked a few times, and found himself staring at a quaint cottage. The paint was fresh, the grass was green, the doorhandle shined. The patches of fresh dirt on either side of the door hosted little green sprouts that were the beginning of a flower garden.

"W..What?" Toby stuttered. Johanna smiled at him.

"Why, this is our new home, Toby. Lila has been taking me around town to see all the houses, we couldn't impose on them like that forever. But if you ever miss them, they're right around the bend there. Sorry about dragging you around, I wanted it to be a surprise. Lila showed me this house and I fell in love with it straight away. I brought Anthony up and he signed the papers last week, we've just been fixing the place up for you. Come on inside then." She urged Toby's frozen feet forward. Automatically he followed her into the cottage. The front door opened to the sitting room, it was dainty and furnished with cushioned polished Mahogany. Then he was lead into the kitchen and dining room, the two combined were about as big as the sitting room. The tiny kitchen was clean, the dining room had a polished table and six matching chair crammed in. Johanna and Anthony's bedroom was beyond that, it was once again about the size of the sitting room up front. Johanna kept it simple, but her elegance slipped in in the lush coverlet and the gleaming chiffarobe.

"Want to see your room?" Johanna asked. Toby nodded mutely. Johanna took him back to the kitchen and reached for a rope on the ceiling. She gave a heave and the trapdoor opened, a ladder sliding down to the ground. "Up you get." Johanna prompted. Toby climbed the ladder carefully, Johanna right behind him. When he got upstairs it was completely dark until Johanna lit a couple branches of candle, when he could see Toby found himself facing a newly-built wall. "That's where we'll be keeping extra things, storage." Johanna said, indicating the wall that lead to half of the attic that spanned across the entire house, "And this side..." She drew the candle away from the wall and let them light the rest of the room. Toby turned and saw where he would be staying. Johanna had obviously put a lot of thought into this, he lived in the attic but there wasn't a spec of dust or a single cobweb. He had a bed, a real bed, and comfortable blankets and several pillows. He had a dresser that was no doubt full of clothes, a full length mirror and a large rectangular something next to his bed that was covered by a gray blanket. "Isn't that gaudy?" Johanna asked, "The nightstand is a gift from Archer, and he insisted it be covered by that sheet, horribly enough. Don't tell him but I'm going to uncover it and through that ugly blanket into the fire." Not that Toby wasn't listening, he was just distracted by a few sheets of paper on his bed. Johanna followed his gaze and a little smile graced her light lips. Toby went to his bed and picked up the sheets of paper, looking at the heading.

"In the adoption of Tobias Ragg..." He read incredulously. He looked up at Johanna, who looked shocked.

"I thought you couldn't read." She said, looking him up and down in proud speculation.

"Archer taught me, I can write too." Toby said, looking back down at the paper and flipped to the end frantically, seeing Anthony and Johanna's signatures, "Adoption?" He whispered, "You and Anthony adopted me?" Johanna studied his face for a few moments, not being able to tell what he felt.

"Look, Toby," She said seriously, "I know this place isn't much, but we could make it a home, the three of us. We think of you as a son already, as a part of the family and we want you to stay with us until you find a pretty girl and move out on your own. I don't know, maybe you'll become a sailor like Anthony. And sure this is an attic, but I cleaned it so well and we're trying to get a couple of windows up here so it won't look so dingy. I'll clean it and buy you more clothes and toys and furniture and everything. You need a chest, of course, and some... well you can pick out your own playthings. And you need a rug for in here, and now that you read and write we could maybe get you a desk and a chair up here. It'll be wonderful, and we're right downstairs. We could have dinner every night, and Anthony could help you with your schoolwork, we enrolled you in the school in town. We could sit in the sitting room in the evening, maybe you could read to us, eh? We'll get you a bookshelf and some books. It isn't much, but it could be enough, I know that I behaved badly before, but you're Toby. And I can't imagine being anywhere without you. So this room is yours, if you want it. We're yours, if you want us." Johanna watched Toby, disappointed that his face only showed disbelief, "Toby, please, I don't want this to upset you."

"Upset?" Toby asked, how could he possibly be upset? "Miss...Johanna. This is perfect, I can't think of anyplace I'd rather be. I'm not used to being so cared for, I'm sorry I concerned you but don't worry, I've never been happier in my entire life than I am right now." Her heart filled with unconditional love and acceptance as she knelt down and took him in her arms, embracing him with all her heart. Toby hugged back, just as emotional and heartfelt, he didn't know how to express just exactly how happy he was. Not only was he forgiven but utterly rewarded, he would have done anything for this moment, and he'd done a lot for it. They stayed locked together for several minutes until Johanna finally pulled back, wiping a few tears from her cheeks.

"Well, I'm going to get rid of this now." She said shakily. She took the gray blanket off of it's stand and folded it under her arm.

"Look!" Toby said in delighted surprise. Johanna looked up from the blanket over her arms and her mouth dropped open. Archer's mysterious nightstand was actually a bookshelf, already stuffed with books. "Guess this means you don't need to get me a bookshelf." Toby said, grinning wider and looking happier than Johanna had ever seen.

"Good old Archer." Johanna said, "But this bookshelf is so small and already full. You'll be a great scholar someday, I can tell. You'll need more places for all the books you'll have." Toby knelt in front of the shelf and picked out a book at random. He looked at the title; _Peter Pan_. He sat on the bed and opened the book to the first page. Johanna sat on the ground next to the bed, leaning on the sheets, cuddling the blanket to her chest with one hand and taking Toby's hand in the other. "Read it to me." She said. Toby smiled, content. Soon Anthony would come home, they'd all eat dinner and go sit in the sitting room. Lila and Archer would probably come to visit. Toby would soon start school, Archer and Anthony would provide him with all the help he'll need. Eventually Lila will teach him a few recipes, he'd make a fuss but secretly love it. They would all love each other, care for each other, be there for each other when they needed them. For a few people that never had anyone dependable, anyone loveable in their lives it was perfection. Toby loved thinking about it, for the first time in his life he loved the idea of tomorrow. So he enjoyed the moment and began to read;

"All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, 'Oh, why can't you remain like this for ever!' This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end..."

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**And so the last chapter concludes, I was actually really sad to end this. And in such a case I may just have to write a sequel, who knows? Actually, I may have even hinted it in the last paragraph there... :) Author Alert me for a sequel this summer, and review, tell me how much you love this and if you want more TELL ME! So I can work this in before I get too busy and stretch myself too thin to write another Sweeney Todd story.**

**And yes, I know that technically Peter Pan hadn't been written yet, but it was the thought that counts so just play along, yeah?  
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**Epic love to everyone who read this! Don't Forget:**

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